Promise of a Lifetime
by fReAk PeAk
Summary: I'll bring back Sasuke, promise of a lifetime. He hadn't fulfiled the promise. But his lifetime is too long to give up so easily. [SasuNaru]


**Travel to Tokyo**

"Train 29 to Tokyo departing now."

As I enter the train yet once again, I feel as my life has been taken a bit away. I'm leaving Hokkaido now. I don't even know why I came here in the first place. I never really liked the cold, but when you have a life as long as mine, you might as well experience everything. It's not that I've never experienced cold, after all I've already been to Antarctica and I remember being in what's now Finland a couple of centuries ago. I agree it was colder there than it is here, but after all, this is Japan, the closest place to what I can call home, so this time I tried having a cool time here.

I've been living here for about twenty years, I guess. I kind of lose the count. Years to me now seem almost like days, so I would say that, compared to my life span, I spent a good week here. It was just the way I wanted it to be. Lonely, boring and cold. And that's why I'm moving yet again.

At first I considered Okinawa. No, that's a lie. At first I considered Brazil. But I don't really like it there. I've been there once. Can't say it was the greatest experience of them all. I went there with Shizuka. She loved it there, so she decided to stay. Anyway, I thought of Okinawa, but then I decided that I needed some time in society again. If I start living too much apart from the world, I'll start losing it. I still don't understand how Gaara can take it.

I find a good seat near the window. The train had hardly anyone. I really chose a good station to board on the train. I place my baggage in the upper compartment and I sit comfortably, tilting my head backwards and looking out the window. They're still waiting for those who are late. There will always be the likes of them. I chuckle a bit inside as I picture Kakashi entering the train, still with his book under his nose, saying he's sorry and saying some dumb excuse. I hardly have any remembrance of him. It's been so long. But he was a far too important person to be forgotten.

Even though I decided Tokyo, I'm still asking myself why I chose it there. The only good memories I have of there are the flights I took from there to get out of here. And that started only fifty or so years ago, so why bother with it? I still don't know myself. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, so maybe that's why. I felt like I needed some time among rush hours and loud people, too busy to care for a simpleton as me. I still don't find it a really good reason to go there, but why should I even bother? I'll just go there and see what happens.

I get up, reach for my bags and take my laptop out. As I sit back down I open it and run it. Good inventions, computers. Sure they put you a bit apart of society, but they can keep you in touch with everything. Not to mention they're my money-makers. Not quite, but it's here that I write my stories, the one thing that lets me live in today's society. If I don't have money, how am I supposed to get what I want, even though I don't ask for much? People really seem to like Naruko, a blonde girl in an imaginary ninja world, and her friends. Sometimes I laugh to myself, thinking of the reaction of people if they knew how much of these stories is actually true.

They also let me get in touch with Shizuka. There are times when I catch her on-line, so it's great to keep in touch. Of the three of us who survived, me, Gaara and Shizuka, I think that the most reasonable was her.

Gaara chose to live apart from society after the great battle of Sekigahara. He was a general for Ieasu and after they had won the battle, he disappeared. I never spoke to him again, though sometimes I hear rumours of his presence. Maybe now, he can sleep. I know he's still alive though. Somehow, we three can feel each others' presence and when I reach within myself for that of his, I can still feel it, as powerful as ever, but very well hidden.

Shizuka chose to be an important part of society. She's really a good ninja. She managed all these years to live many lives without anyone noticing it. I chose to live my life alone, though not denying what I'm a part of, as Gaara did. While I chose to live alone because I couldn't bear the loss of the friends I'd make throughout my life, Shizuka chose to live like she's living because she couldn't bear an eternity of life alone. I still think I should have done as her.

Maybe that's the main reason why I'm moving to Tokyo. Maybe secretly, all I want is for someone to be with me. To make friends and live life fully again, as I did those many years ago.

I don't know how long it has been. I lost count by the time at the great battle of Sekigahara, when Gaara asked me the question out of curiosity. I think I already didn't remember back then. I'd say it was about two thousand years ago, but I can't really be sure. Anyway, it was a long time ago.

Funny thing, when we're children, we always think we'll be immortal. No one or anything can stop us. I remember, before I was a genin, I thought how nice it would be if I could just die. I've beginning to think like that about a thousand years ago. But I was a ninja and I was Hokage. Suicide wasn't and isn't an option, and since nothing seems to be able to kill me, I'll just keep going like this.

The thing has long gone away. It lasted five hundred years since I've started to take him in. Shizuka's lasted less. Unfortunately, Gaara's was still inside him when we went apart. It works a bit differently with him, so maybe that's why.

As I remember Shukaku, I remember how it all started. How my eternal life really started. With the chuunin exams. No, wait. There was something before it. Yeah, when I was picked to be in my team. I don't remember the number already. There were more teams, but I can't remember them either. I still remember a few faces though. There was this pineapple hair guy. Shi... Shimori? Yeah, I guess that was it. And the dog boy. I have no idea what his name was. I still remember Hinata clearly though. Her pale face, her white eyes, that timid expression. I remember she married the dog boy (whatever his name was), though I think she still liked me even after her marriage. Yeah, she liked me. I sigh inwardly. How could I be so dumb? I had a perfect girl just right there who loved me for who I was but I still had to pursue... her.

Sakura; the love of my life. I can still smell her fragrance, somehow. I loved everything about her. The way she moved. The way she smiled. The way she talked. The way her breasts bounced when she was on top of me. The way her red cheeks shone when her face was covered with my seeds and she'd fake a smile to me, just to please me, her emerald eyes giving away her fakeness. The way she slept; her mouth half open, clinging to my chest. I even loved the way she'd cry while sleeping, murmuring the word "Sasuke-kun..."

I loved her and she loved him.

I never really knew how he felt about us two. Everything between us three ended that rainy day, when he stabbed me with his thundering left hand and fled. Him...

Sasuke never again appeared in front of me or Sakura. We would often hear about him, especially after the issue with the Akatsuki. They actually found Itachi's corpse, along with another corpse, but this one was so teared apart, that they couldn't identify it back then. It's a pity they didn't have DNA tests.

Me and Sakura actually looked for him. After I became Hokage the one thing that drove me was the thought of finding him. Every week we'd leave and search for him. Every weekend we'd come back empty-handed. Every one of those times I'd repeat the very same words I repeated by the time when Sakura passed away. "I'll bring him back from the darkness. Promise of a lifetime."

I couldn't keep the promise and I still hit myself mentally for that. The only promise I couldn't keep was the most important of my life. Not because it was for me, but because it was for someone else. I thought at the moment when I showed the 'nice guy pose' to Sakura that I would be marked forever. I wish I wasn't right. It was one of my strongest memories. The other two were the day I became Hokage and the first time I made love to Sakura. No... We didn't make love. We had sex. I loved Sakura. I still love Sakura with all my humongous strength, but she didn't love me back... she never did. I loved those times when we would just lay back, after two straight hours. I knew she didn't like it too long, so I'd try to make it last less than possible. I still think two hours were a bit too much, but she never complained. I think that with time she learned to enjoy being with me. At least I hope so.

We actually married. All the tensions almost forced us to; forced her to. We were just friends who had some sex occasionally when we somehow lacked love and tenderness. But with all our friends rooting for our marriage, we actually ended up making their wish come true, though, to us, we were never really married. Though I would love to live a lie, I'm glad that we stayed true to ourselves.

I loved her and she loved him.

I realise I've been staring blankly at the laptop's screen for almost one hour, reminiscing. The screensaver had almost entirely filled the black background. As I move the mouse, the screensaver disappearing, and I head for Word, I try to shake away the memories of those times. I rarely remember them now. It's usually something about Edo, the whore houses and the Bakumatsu. It's as if I attract troubles. A few years before I got out of Japan, the battle of Sekigahara took place. A few months after I returned, the Bakumatsu took place. I missed the whole Tokugawa period. I don't worry about it, though. Fortunately I wasn't here by the time the USA dropped the two H bombs. Ironic enough, I was in America at that time.

I start writing my story again. Naruko was in a bad situation. A group of thugs were surrounding her and she had already spent most of her chakra (another thing people loved, the way I used chakra in my books). Even though Naruko was having a difficult time, my thoughts drifted again to those times.

I don't remember everything well, but as my mind searches through my brain, feeding on memories, I remember a few other things.

After the issue with the Akatsuki, only four of us, demon carriers, survived. Me, Gaara, Shizuka and Kenshiro. Konoha and Suna also had several downs; among them were Kakashi, Gaara's sister (I can't remember her name anymore), Thick Brows and that chubby one. I was made Hokage soon after. Life got normal again, we minding our business as other villages minding their own. A quick war between two villages broke, but it was nothing important. Several years after the war, news of Itachi's death was heard and a few months after, me and Sakura married. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately, I still can't decide, even now) Sakura couldn't have babies, so we stayed alone until the end of her days. We still had our friends though. Great friends they were. I still think the reason why the pushed us to marry each other was because they couldn't stand our pitiful faces when we'd stand next to each other.

After Sakura passed away I gave the title of Hokage away and got out of Konoha. I never returned again. Half a century or so after, a great war started. All the countries took part in it, some allied others and fought against others. After a hundred years of battle, the ninja world, its secrets and technology was lost. Me, Kenshiro and Gaara never took part in the war. Shizuka still tried to protect her country, but in the end it was helpless. Everything had gone away, not a memory of what had once been. Soon after the Hidden War, as it became known among those few who survived and knew of the ninja, me and the other three travelled to an island, where had once been the Water Country. About a century after we got there, the land was already named Japan and its feudal system was working almost as perfectly as our kage/daimyo system had once worked. It wasn't as peaceful as one would prefer, but still it was the closest to home. This new land, Japan, was the only one to inherit the language spoken in the ninja lands and most of its culture, maybe because it is an island, so it took the least damage. During many years, me, Gaara, Kenshiro and Shizuka lived together. Each one took part in different jobs and lead his own way, but we would, at least once a day, be with each other.

About one thousand years after we arrived Japan, took place the one event that would seal our destinies apart. Revolutions all over Japan started taking place; a general called Tokugawa Ieasu gathered an horde of followers and tried to take the shogunate. I don't even know how it all happened. Last thing I really remember was me and Shizuka deciding we weren't going to take part in it. Unfortunately, Gaara and Kenshiro decided to fight for the remaining of their ideals. But the worst was that they followed opposite paths. While Gaara fought for the revolutionaries defending Tokugawa, Kenshiro stayed true to the Ashikaga shogunate. In the great battle of Sekigahara, they faced each other, each one as general of their troops. I didn't see the fight, so the only thing I know is that, after Gaara had killed Kenshiro, he isolated himself from us. The revolutionaries had won and a new regime began. Even though Shizuka and I tried resoning with Gaara, he wouldn't listen to us. He felt guilty for killing one of our kind and ran to the mountains, asking us not to follow him. We did as asked and never again saw him.

A few years after the battle, it was time for me to leave Japan and Shizuka behind. While she chose to stay and continue her life, as she was now married again, I sailed out of Japan in a Portuguese ship. I didn't know what expected me, only that these large-eyed newcomers were far more advanced than the Japanese society, at least in technology, as they lacked the moral principles. I befriended the captain, Fernao Mendes, and I told him everything I knew about Japan, as he seemed to be very interested in 'us'. In exchange he told me everything about his country, Portugal, its quarrels with Spain, their discoveries of the New World, new technology and ways. All that amazed me the most. The technology wasn't that of a deal, as back in our ninja times we were far more advanced, but all the adventures and discoveries Fernao talked about made me want to get up and face life again. And so I did. After a few years working with the Portuguese navy, I travelled to other countries. From Portugal, I went to Brazil, Africa and India; from Spain, I went to Venezuela, Mexico and what is now the USA; from France I went again to South America and Africa; from England I went to what is now the USA, yet again, Canada and Australia. I did all that during two hundred years, while learning from each culture. Of course, I didn't learn all their languages, but I sure caught English well, as well as Portuguese and Spanish, but I still quarrel with French.

About fifty years after I arrived again at Japan, a new revolution took part. This one was much more violent than the other, as more skilful warriors took part in it, there was more conspiracy and many acted in the dark. I tried to stay away from the violence, going to the woods. There, unknowingly, I met Shizuka again. She was living alone again and had gone to the woods seeking peace, trying to stay away from the civil war. After that, we stayed together for many years, travelling, learning new things and even enjoying each others' presence. Half way through the 20th century, we went apart again. She stayed in Brazil and I decided to hop again to Portugal. I stayed there for some years, still having the chance to see yet another revolution. In the mid eighties, I returned to Japan and went to Hokkaido.

As the train stops and I regain consciousness, I realize I had been dreaming about my life during this few hours of sleep. The doors open and I shut my laptop off, put it back in the bags and get out to the train station. The moment I put my feet out of the train, I was drowned in the crowd. Too many people, in my opinion. Why the hell did I put myself in this mess?

So, what do you guys think? This one is almost as a prologue, and may be a bit boring, but it's important to situate the action and tell what happened. For those of you who follow my other fanfic, Naruto XX, don't worry, I'll be updating any time soon.


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